Addition of spirulina as feed supplement in the ration on production and eggs quality of the Sentul chickens

Abstract

Sentul chicken is a specific chicken from Ciamis region, West Java, Indonesia, and it is a dual purpose type. To improve performance can be added with spirulina meal as a feed supplement. Spirulina is classified as blue-green algae or blue-green bacteria and can be as the source of protein. Spirulina is a source of carotenoids with the high content of beta-carotene and xanthophylls, so it can be used in rations to increase egg production. The purpose of this study was to obtain an effective level of use n of spirulina in the Sentul chicken ration of the layer phase. The study used 50 female chickens aged seven months, which was kept in cages until two months and each cage contains two chickens. The method used was a completely randomized design with 5 treatments namely R0 (ration without spirulina), R1 (ration with 1% spirulina addition), R 2 (addition of 1.5% ), R3 (addition of 2%) and R4 (addition of 2, 5%) with five replications. Furthermore, treatment differences were tested using Duncan Multiple Range test. The measured variables were feed consumption, egg weight, hen day production, and feed conversion, thick of shell and egg yolk color. The results showed the addition of spirulina of 1.5 - 2% in the ration increased hen day production and egg quality but with the addition of 2.5%, feed consumption, hen day production, and feed conversion decreased. It can be concluded that spirulina can be used as a feed supplement until 2% to give the best on production and eggs quality of Sentul chicken.